Eldritch Horror Theatre

"Y-yes."

The middle-aged man clearly didn't understand why Fu Qian was so fixated on this point, but with his life on the line, the exact name of The Company was hardly a matter of principle.

"Good. Take this first."

Fu Qian set the man down and offered the medical file to him again.

"Alright..."

Clearly realizing that escape was impossible, the middle-aged man stood obediently in place and accepted the document.

[Current task updated: find and eliminate the Inner Eye.]

'That actually worked?'

'It really pays to take the initiative!'

'The shift in tone is a bit drastic, though.'

'First it had me deliver a file, and now it wants me to play assassin.'

'But finding the Inner Eye... Even now, I still have no idea what the Prosthetic Eye refers to.'

Fu Qian thought for a moment, then reached out and shook the middle-aged man's hand.

"A pleasure doing business."

...

"Now, I have a few questions for you."

"Please, ask away."

The middle-aged man clearly knew what was good for him. Realizing that his life rested entirely in the hands of the man across from him, he quickly adopted an appropriately subservient attitude.

"What is your name?"

"Cha Soon-young."

"What's the deal with them?"

Fu Qian pointed at their surroundings.

"They all work nearby... I did a bit of processing on them and brought them back here."

'Processing...'

Fu Qian nodded. What a careful choice of words.

"With that thing you had earlier?"

He was referring to the thin slip Cha Soon-young had been holding.

"Y-yes."

Cha Soon-young clearly knew what he was talking about.

"If my guess is right, you can control their minds?"

Fu Qian recalled the female receptionist's behavior when he had rung the doorbell.

She had obviously been acting within the confines of her role, desperately trying to drive him away.

Yet the moment he stepped inside, she had become completely unresponsive.

Combined with the behavior of the others, everyone in this room aside from Cha Soon-young was essentially a mindless puppet.

The only reason they were maintaining this office tableau was likely due to Cha Soon-young's control.

"I can only control them a little bit. Just a very small amount."

Cha Soon-young looked at Fu Qian cautiously, terrified that this man would be overcome with righteous indignation and execute him on the spot.

"So why are you controlling them here? Don't tell me they're working overnight to make you money."

"Well... no, not exactly..."

Cha Soon-young's expression suddenly became hesitant.

"Then why?"

"It's, it's so that... so that..."

Cha Soon-young stammered. Mid-sentence, his voice came to an abrupt halt.

The next moment, he stared at the back of his hand in disbelief, his gaze freezing.

A black hair, far thicker than a normal strand, was sprouting from a pore and rapidly lengthening.

And it wasn't the only one. As his skin rippled, clumps of black fur slowly but firmly erupted all over his body.

"It's true... It's actually true!"

The mutation taking place on his body clearly filled Cha Soon-young with extreme excitement. His gaze toward Fu Qian did a total one-eighty, suddenly turning ferocious and violent.

"I did all this, naturally, so I could crush you right now."

Cha Soon-young's voice grew deep and hoarse. He glared menacingly at Fu Qian.

In just a few seconds, his body had nearly doubled in size. Covered head to toe in thick black fur, he looked increasingly imposing.

Yet even in the face of this shocking scene, the surrounding crowd of office workers remained standing in place, completely unresponsive.

"I don't know how you came to that conclusion, but I can confidently say it's not enough."

Fu Qian stayed exactly where he was, quietly watching the man transform while offering his critique.

"I can feel it! My power is still increas—"

The rest of Cha Soon-young's words devolved into a roar, the actual meaning no longer recognizable.

His entire head tore open from his mouth outward, expanding into a broad, elongated snout that revealed rows of gleaming, sharp teeth as it snapped open and shut.

'Interesting. It seems I've just witnessed an ordinary person acquire transcendent power.'

'If everything Cha Soon-young did was truly for this very moment, then his earlier actions invite a lot of speculation.'

'Was this midnight office operation some sort of ritual he was holding? As an ordinary human?'

'And the crazy part is, it actually worked.'

'This is truly inconceivable.'

'After all, even for transcendents, rituals are highly secretive and complex matters that are incredibly difficult to track down.'

'Yet something countless transcendents tirelessly pursue has so easily appeared in the hands of a normal person.'

'Of course, this ritual clearly carries massive side effects. He's essentially just mutated into a beast with transcendent power, nothing more.'

"Roar!"

As Fu Qian thought this, Cha Soon-young, whose every word had been reduced to a roar, fully transformed into a giant beast nearly three meters tall. Bellowing once more, he charged straight at him.

It went without saying that the roar roughly translated to 'fuck you.'

Even though he didn't speak beast, Fu Qian instantly grasped the meaning behind such an emotionally charged cry.

In response, Fu Qian blasted his head apart with an Air Bullet.

'Even after mutating, you're just a basic mob. Any random student from the Academy could wipe the floor with you. Why act so tough?'

Staring down at the headless, mutated corpse, Fu Qian let out a sigh.

'What a pity. There are still a few key questions I haven't asked.'

'For instance, where did he get that thin slip, and what was the origin of this ritual?'

'After all, as an ordinary person, none of these are things he would normally be able to come into contact with.'

'Unfortunately, it seemed his ritual was considered a success the moment midnight arrived, and he mutated directly before we could exchange more than a couple of sentences.'

'Though I'm still not sure what this scene has to do with the Inner Eye, since the first task directed me here, it must have some significance.'

'First of all, it probably didn't send me here just to play the hero and punish evil.'

Fu Qian looked at a nearby clock.

When Cha Soon-young transformed just now, the time had been exactly midnight.

His task had been to deliver the item before midnight. That meant it was entirely possible for him to have dropped off the file a little earlier and left, missing this transformation scene completely.

'So killing Cha Soon-young was only an optional side objective.'

'As for saving anyone... Cha Soon-young's brainwashing methods were clearly crude. This group of people is basically no different from the living dead. Saving them wouldn't have much meaning.'

'Speaking of which, this situation brings to mind that scene on the bus from before.'

'Those three who got struck by lightning acted just as bizarrely, and similarly, transcendent power appeared in the end.'

'The only difference is that unlike those three who were actively courting death, Cha Soon-young clearly knew what he was doing, and his actions actually seemed viable.'

'So by comparison, he must have known much more.'

'The question is, how did he know?'

Standing amidst the crowd of dazed office workers, Fu Qian pondered for a long moment. Then, his facial features began to rapidly shift, quickly morphing into the exact likeness of Cha Soon-young.

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